Double Up Food Bucks helps low-income families eat more fruits and vegetables while supporting American farmers and growing local economies.

Helping more families buy fresh, healthy food from local farmers is a simple yet powerful idea. Double Up matches the value of SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) when spent on fruits and vegetables with a financial benefit to local growers. What began in five Detroit farmers markets in 2009 grew into the first statewide healthy food incentive program and is now a national model for SNAP incentives.

We have continually pushed the field forward, expanding to grocery stores in one of the first pilots in the nation and pioneering new electronic incentive technologies.

Double Up is a win/win/win: Low-income families bring home more healthy food, area farmers gain new customers and make more money, and more food dollars stay in the local economy. Each has a positive ripple effect of benefits.

Michigan

Where Double Up began.

Double Up began as a small pilot in Detroit and is today a statewide success story. We continue to grow and innovate the program in Michigan to bring healthy food to more families, through more farmers, in more locations.

Double Up has been a quantifiable success.

In 2007, before Double Up began, less than $16,000 in SNAP benefits were distributed at Michigan farmers markets. In 2017, combined SNAP and Double Up sales at participating farmers markets and grocery stores exceeded $4.5 million. Today, 95% of Michigan residents live in a county with a Double Up site. Dig deeper into Double Up’s impact in Michigan.

Our work in Michigan has had nationwide ramifications.

Double Up helped inspire a $100 million incentive grants program established in the 2014 Farm Bill. In 2015 Fair Food Network was awarded a $5.1 million grant—the second largest grant made nationally. This was matched with private funds for a total of nearly $10.4 million. Fair Food Network received a second FINI award in 2017 for $3.5 million award supporting work in Michigan, Colorado, and Western New York. Through a third FINI award in 2018 for $1.5 million, Fair Food Network is supporting grocery expansion in Alabama, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Texas, as well as supporting a nascent farmers market network in Alabama and Texas.

And we’re not stopping there.

We continue to scale the program and test new ideas.

We’re committed to meeting families wherever they shop, whenever they shop. There were 250+ sites in 2017 including farmers markets, mobile markets, farm stands, food share programs, and a variety of grocery stores including regional chains, independents, and co-ops. Current expansion is focused on grocery—a critical next frontier of incentives. A growing number of sites are also running Double Up year-round.

We’re advancing technology innovations including:

Interoperability: Allowing shoppers to earn Double Up Food Bucks at one location and spend them in a different location in the community. This work was pioneered in Flint to help people get more fresh produce in response to the lead crisis.

E-Incentives: Shifting from physical tokens to electronic processing of incentives at farmers markets.

This includes partner that bring Double Up to life in their communities as well as key statewide organizations including the Michigan Farmers Market Association, the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services, and our state SNAP-Ed implementing partners: the Michigan Fitness Foundation and Michigan State University Extension.

Farmers Markets

The birthplace of incentives.

Double Up began and remains rooted in farmers markets. With this program, every dollar spent does at least double duty, providing new sales for family farmers and real nutrition assistance, while keeping food dollars circulating in the local economy.

But the benefits run deeper at farmers markets.

Farmers markets provide an anchor of healthy food access in urban and rural communities. Shoppers report that the quality and selection of produce at the markets is better and the prices the same or lower than where they usually shop. Equally powerful is the value they place on their food dollars supporting local farmers. In Michigan, 92% of Double Up Food Bucks distributed at farmers markets are redeemed.

Today the Double Up model is active at over 560 farmers markets, farms stands, and CSAs nationwide from Western New York to Utah and Arkansas.

Here’s how Double Up works at farmers markets:

$1 to $1 match on SNAP-eligible purchases (with a consistent cap) that can be spent on any locally-grown fruits and vegetables.

Incentives can be earned and spent at any participating Double Up farmers market.

At most markets, Double Up is distributed via branded tokens. Some markets and farm stands use electronic payment technologies.

Double Up’s uniform design, centrally coordinated across a region, reduces the administrative burden for local partners, freeing them to bring the program to life in their communities.

Participating markets promote the program, provide regular reporting, and participate in program evaluation.

Fair Food Network or the local lead provides all the resources needed to successfully implement the program including incentive funding, program tools and templates, and branded marketing materials. They also lead program outreach and external evaluation.

Grocery

The next frontier of healthy food incentives.

In the grocery environment, Double Up Food Bucks can be game changer. It distinguishes stores in the marketplace, attracts new customers, boosts the purchasing power of SNAP customers, and encourages store loyalty and repeat visits.

We have been at the forefront of bringing SNAP incentives to grocery stores.

In 2013, Fair Food Network brought its experience with incentives to the grocery setting in one of the first pilots in the nation. Through local partnerships in 18 states and growing, the Double Up model can be found at a variety of retail outlets in small towns and big cities.

Double Up is a win in grocery stores.

In Michigan, Double Up incentive spending quadrupled between 2016 and 2017, while the total number of participating stores only doubled.

After launching Double Up, produce sales at regional chain Lowe’s were up 25% in its Santa Fe, New Mexico store.

In California, participating stores saw produce sales increase 5-11% in their first year and SNAP sales stay steady or grow, despite 13% fewer SNAP benefits distributed in the county.

Michigan produce sales increased by an estimated 60% on average per store between 2016 and 2017 at participating independent stores.

As our work in grocery grows, we’re maintaining our commitment to local food.

Local agriculture remains a key feature of Double Up in all settings. This connection extends Double Up’s economic benefits to mid-sized producers who have the capacity to serve grocery stores and are among the most economically vulnerable segment of the American farming population.

Double Up operates a bit differently in grocery stores than farmers markets, while generating the same wins for families, farmers, and local economies. Here’s how it works:

$1 to $1 match on produce purchases paid for with SNAP (with a consistent cap).

Different redemption systems have been used including coupons, loyalty cards, automatic deduction, and pre-loaded gift cards.

Fair Food Network or the local lead provides incentive funding as well as designed outreach and in-store marketing materials. They also manage external evaluation.

Critical to such success has been our close collaboration with independent grocery trade associations and participating grocery partners including AFPD and SpartanNash in Michigan, Balls Food Stores in Kansas City, and Whole Foods Market, among others.

Double Up in Flint

Results

Our investments in good food are getting great results.

Evaluation is a cornerstone of the Double Up program. From annual external evaluations to deeper dives into health or economic impacts, we are committed to rigorous evaluation. Results have informed program design and implementation, policy, and the development of the Double Up toolkit. See below for 2017 highlights from our flagship program in Michigan and download our 2017 Michigan Overview for more details.

Families eat more healthy food.

SNAP recipients shop more often and eat more produce when Double Up is in place; farmers market shoppers who buy produce six or more times per month increased by 70%.

Shoppers value the farmers market experience including the quality and variety of produce, relationships with vendors, and supporting local agriculture.

Double Up is reaching those most in need with more than half of shoppers having low or very low food security.

Shoppers say that Double Up has improved their physical, mental, and economic health.

Farmers get a financial boost.

1,000+ farmers benefit annually; 36% are beginning farmers.

More than half of participating farmers say they are making more money, gaining new customers, and selling more produce.

Other farmer benefits include diversifying what they grow, purchasing new equipment, putting more land into production, and hiring more staff.

Double Up is associated with increased sales at farmers markets – with beginning farmers reaping the greatest benefits.

Grocers’ businesses thrive.

Double Up incentive spending quadrupled between 2016 and 2017, while the total number of participating stores only doubled.

A majority of storeowners say that Double Up is bringing in new customers.

At independent stores, Michigan produce sales increased by more than 60% on average per store between 2016 and 2017.

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Active Double Up program

Fair Food Network supporting healthy food incentive work

Bring Double Up to Your Community.

Double Up programs are now being implemented by local partners in more than 20 states. The program’s success remains rooted in partnerships including local markets and grocers, as well as leading public, private, and nonprofit organizations. Download our Double Up National Overview to learn more.

From the beginning, we have been committed to developing a model that could scale.

Double Up is defined by its uniform program design, common brand, and compelling marketing materials. Our experience in Michigan demonstrates that it can be implemented in any retail environment and any community—urban or rural.

Double Up Toolkit

Double Up is a complete package, quickly adopted and implemented by partners across the nation.

Our program toolkit is backed by multiple years of evaluation and results that demonstrate growth and satisfaction among customers, farmers, market managers, and grocers. It includes all the tools and templates partners need to launch Double Up in their communities—from a robust recordkeeping framework to branded outreach and marketing materials.

Fair Food Network is on-hand to help you get started and ensure your program is a success. We provide individualized coaching, cross-site networking and collaboration, and ongoing insights from our work in Michigan and other Double Up communities.